by Ton Zijlstra

Tag Archives: malaysia

I spent the last week in Kuala Lumpur to support the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) with their open data implementation efforts (such as the Malaysian open data portal). Specifically this trip was about the launch of the Malaysia Open Data User Group (MODUG), as well as discussions with MAMPU on how we can help support their 2018 and 2019 open data plans. I was there together with my World Bank colleague Carolina Vaira, and with Baden Appleyard, a long time long distance friend of my company The Green Land. As he is from Australia, working together in Malaysia means meeting sort-of half way.

The MODUG comes from the action plan presented last May, after our Open Data Readiness Assessment last year, which I helped bring about when I first visited in spring 2015 as part of the Malaysian big data advisory board. In the action plan we suggested creating an informal and trusted place for government organisations to discuss their practical issues and concerns in creating more open data, learn from each other, and collaborate on specific actions as well as formulating government good practice. Similarly it called for creating a similar space for potential users of government open data, for individuals, coding community, NGO’s and civil society, academia and the business community. Next to having these two places where both government and non-government can discuss their questions and issues amongst themselves, regular interaction was proposed between the two, so that data custodians and users can collaborate on creating social and economic value with open data in Malaysia. The MODUG brings these three elements under one umbrella.

Last Tuesday MAMPU held an event to launch the MODUG, largely moderated by Carolina and me. MAMPU is within the remit of General Affairs Minister within the Prime Minister’s office, Joseph Entulu Belaun. The Minister officially opened the event and inaugurated the MODUG (by cutting a ribbon hanging from a drone hovering in front of him).

Minister Joseph Entulu Belaun cutting a ribbon from a drone, and Dr Yusminar of MAMPU presenting the current status of Malaysian open data efforts. (both images (c) MAMPU)

Dr Yusminar, who is the team lead with MAMPU for open data, and our direct counter part in our work with MAMPU, provided a frank overview of efforts so far, and things that still need to be tackled. This helped set the scene for the rest of the day by providing a shared understanding of where things currently stand.

Then we got to work with the participants, in two rounds of a plenary panel followed by roundtable discussions. The first round, after data holders and users in a panel discussed the current general situation, government and non-government groups discussed separately, looking at which data they see demand for, the challenges they encounter in publishing or using the data, and the suggestions they have overcoming those. The second round started with a panel bringing some international experiences and good practice examples, during which I got a new title, that of ‘open data psychologist’ because of stressing the importance of the social aspects, behaviour and attitude involved in making open data work. The panel was followed with round table conversations that mixed both data custodians and users. Conversations centered on finding a collective agenda to move open data forward. After each round the results from each table were briefly presented, and the output attached to the walls. Participants clearly appreciated having the time and space to thoroughly discuss the open data aspects they find important, and be heard by their colleagues and peers. They indicated wanting to do this more often, which is great to hear as creating the room for such conversations is exactly what the MODUG is meant for!

Roundtable discussions on a shared open data agenda for MODUG

The day(s) after the event we discussed the output and how moving forward into 2018 and 2019 we can further support MAMPU and the Malaysian open data efforts. This meant diving much deeper into the detailed actions that need to be taken. I’m very much looking forward to staying involved.

Last year November and in the months afterwards, me and my team did an Open Data Readiness Assessment (ODRA) for the Malaysian Government. It’s the third such national ODRA I’ve done for the World Bank. This week I returned to Malaysia together with my colleague Carolina Vaira to officially deliver our report to the general affairs Minister responsible for the administration modernisation planning unit (MAMPU). MAMPU is the lead agency for open data efforts in Malaysia.

The report is the culmination of a lot of work, amongst others interviewing some 45 government agencies and a few dozen non-government entities (we spoke to almost 200 people in total in a 2 week interviewing frenzy), in which we provide an overview of the current situation in Malaysia, and how conducive it is for more open data efforts. At the same time the delivery of the report is not an end-point but in itself a starting point and source of energy to decide on the next steps. An ODRA is not meant as a scorecard, but is a diagnostic tool, and its most important part isn’t the assessment itself (although it is very useful to get a good insight into the role of data inside government and in society), but the resulting list of recommendations and suggested actions.

The printed report, and its presentation to the general affairs Minister

In that sense a critical phase now starts: working with MAMPU to select from our recommendations the steps that are opportune to do now, and finding the right willing data holding government agencies and external stakeholders to involve. That I think is also the key message of the report: most essential building blocks for open data are in place, and Malaysia is very well positioned to derive societal value from open data, but it needs more effort in weaving the relationships between government and non-government entities to ensure those building blocks are cemented together and form a whole that can indeed deliver that value.

The formal delivery of the report to the Minister took place at the University of Malaysia, as part of Malaysia Open Data Day 2017, after which I presented some of the key findings and my colleague presented some good practice examples to illustrate some of the actions we suggested.

Data Terbuka (open data) banner, and Carolina and I on stage during Q&A

The past 12 days I was in Malaysia on mission for the World Bank and Malaysia’s Administrative Modernisation planning unit (MAMPU). Malaysia is pushing forward both on Big Data and Open Data initiatives, and I was there to do an Open Data Readiness Assessment (ODRA) to help point to the logical and most promising steps to take, in order to unlock the full potential of open data. The ODRA was the result of conversations I had with MAMPU when I visited Malaysia last year as member of the Malaysian Big Data Advisory Panel.

A marathon of meetings
Over the course of my visit we met with representatives of over 70 organisations, ministries, departments and agencies (2/3 government), and some of those organisations several times, usually for 1 hour or 90 minute sessions. All of these focused on the federal level (Malaysia is a kingdom with a federal structure). In all these meetings we were trying to understand the way the Malaysian government works, and how data plays a role in that. From the output, using the ODRA methodology, we assess the logical and possible steps for Malaysia to take towards more open data.

One of the many meetings we had

Formal launch with the Minister
The first two days were filled with meetings with civil society, the private sector and academia. The third day we met with the Minister for Administrative Modernisation responsible for MAMPU, which in turn is the responsible agency running the open data efforts. Together we officially launched the ODRA effort in attendance of the press and some 300 representatives of various civil society, business and government organisations. The Minister pointed to the value of open data in light of Malaysia’s development goals in his opening speech. After a little exercise, by my WB colleague Carolina from Washington, to gauge the opinions in the room on the value of open data to help move to a more informal exchange of ideas, I gave a presentation to show how open data creates value, what ensures open data success and how the ODRA will help find the right ‘hooks’ to do that. The Q&A that followed showed the strong interest in the room, and also the commitment of the Minister and MAMPU as both he and MAMPU’s DG got involved in the discussion.

Result driven and diverse
Malaysia strikes me as a country with lots of diversity, and as very result driven. That diversity was further emphasized while reading the very beautiful book Garden of the Evening Mists by Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng, but is also visible in every meeting we had, and every little walk I took through the city. The public sector is driven by KPI’s and in general everything is very much progress and future oriented. That has yielded impressive results, such as removing poverty in just generation, and now walking the path to be a high-income country by 2020. At the same time, all those KPI’s can generate a lack of focus (if everything is a priority, nothing really is) and can create blind spots (softer aspects such as the quality of interaction between government and the public) because it is harder to quantify.

Kuala Lumpur
Last year I was only visiting for 2 days or so, and had no time to see more of my surroundings. This time I was here for a week and a half, although most of those days were very busy. Some of the evenings, and during the weekend however my WB colleagues Rob (based in KL) and Carolina go to explore the city a bit, and enjoyed the great food. I spend a few hours visiting the Menara Kuala Lumpur, a telecommunications tower that has an observation deck providing a great view from 300m up over the city. With 5 million people it is a sprawling city over a large area (we commuted everyday from the hotel to MAMPU offices, 35kms away, all within the city), and the view from the tower showed me how extended that area really is.

Some views from Menara KL over the city.

Food
Already last year what stood out for me is that food is important in Malaysia, and is offered at every opportunity, even during every meeting. Also the variety of cuisines on offer is great, from all over Asia, as well as western and Latin American. MAMPU arranged great Malaysian food for breakfast and lunch, during the intensive days of interviews, allowing me to indulge in all the great tastes and enjoying the spicyness. Off hours Rob took us to several places, Malaysian, Mexican, Spanish-Japanese, Korean, and Peruvian. I also sampled some of the fine Chinese restaurants. Sunday evening we enjoyed a great open air diner on the 24th (or 23A, as in Malaysian 4 sounds like death), overlooking KLCC park at sunset, and seeing the lights come on in the iconic Petronas towers. I arrived home with a little more baggage then I left with, so part of the aftermath of my visit is not just writing the report, but also losing that additional weight 😉

From the open 24th floor of one of the Troika towers, enjoying Peruvian food, watching the sun set and lights come on in Petronas Towers. In the background Menara KL from which I had a great view over the city earlier that day.

Next steps
The coming weeks we’ll go through all the material we’ve collected in our meetings and during our desk research. From it a report will result that is action oriented to help MAMPU drive open data forward, and use it as a tool to attain the development goals Malaysia has set for itself. Most of the necessary building blocks are in place, but those blocks are all in their own silos and generally not connected. Likely most of the suggested actions will be about creating the connections between those building blocks and work on the quality of relationships between stakeholders and the awareness of how open data can be a tool for both the public and for the public sector. I am grateful to the great MAMPU and WB team for our collaboration these past days and the hospitality they have shown me.

About

Weblog since 2002 by Ton Zijlstra.
European citizen in a networked world. Based in the Netherlands, living in Europe, working globally. There are no Others. There is just me and many of you.

I write about how our digital and networked world changes how we work, learn, decide and organize. I explore the tools and strategies that help us navigate the networked world.
I am passionate about increasing people's ability to act (knowledge), and their ability to change (learning). Key-words: open data, open government, fablabs, making, complexity, agency.